Yesterday Golf Australia cancelled the Australian Open (Men's and Women's) for the second year running. But the tournament is months away, and vaccination rates in Australia are high. The organizers said “The international element means shifting quarantine and travel restrictions wreak havoc on planning and, with our marquee players living abroad, the challenge is even greater." What about the local pros? Golf courses are open. People are playing. What about giving the the local professionals a shot to win their own national title? Why should there have to be big name players? Or advertising? Last time I looked, people brought their own clubs to the course, and the course was already mown. I can't see which advertising dollar is essential to putting on golfing open. This is about laziness and pride, not sport. Commercialism is great for sport, but every now and then, and we see it quite often, it can hijack sport. So my idea is that all golfing opens should take place regardless of the circumstances. There will be plenty more global catastrophes to come. OK maybe when its down to three mates playing in two feet of seawater with a nuclear bomb carrying ebola virus about explode at the said championship course, yeah, in that case, I could understand them calling it off.